The participants in my study began volunteering through different avenues and found different motivations to continue their volunteerism. Their stories tell how experiences either encourage or discourage volunteerism for college students. Three out of ten participants stated their involvement with a church influenced their decision to volunteer. Out of ten participants, six students volunteered during high school; out of the six, three of them cited church influence in their decision to volunteer. Below I provide profiles of each participant, followed by a
discussion of their qualitative responses to some of the questions that were central to my study. Maria
Maria is a twenty year old, Hispanic undergraduate student at Georgia State University. She did not volunteer in high school although she expressed the desire to. During college she found out about the volunteer program Jumpstart through an internet search. Jumpstart is led by a Georgia State employee and allows Georgia State students to help prepare pre-kindergarten kids for kindergarten. She was attracted to volunteer at Jumpstart because she enjoys working with the kids. One of the benefits of volunteering there is the experience of working with the children. “To me, it‟s the experience and learning to deal with children. Because I have always said I love children and now this puts it to the test. This sees if I have the patience to be around them.”
Maria volunteers three times a week for three hours each time. She has volunteered at Jumpstart for almost a year. In addition to the daily activities which include reading to the children and helping them write, she also volunteers for the special events like MLK service day and holiday parties. She hopes to start a program at her high school that pairs up a college
29 student to a female high school student; the college student would mentor the high school student until she graduates from high school. “The foundation of it for me is that you are not a mentor of one month and you walk out of that person‟s life. You are a mentor those four years in that girl‟s life. You see them their freshman year and you see them walk across the stage when they
graduate.”
When discussing insight that she had gained from her volunteer experience, Maria discussed how the troubles and issues in a community are evident. The problems with economic difference, parents, teachers who do not care become apparent to volunteers; it brings awareness for issues and motives her to help out even more. More importantly, the impact of volunteering has the possibility of making a big difference in someone‟s life. She described how one
experience when she taught a little girl how to write a lower case E “she was just so (excited). She filled her whole piece of paper with lower case E and me telling her „Good job‟. You saw her brighten up and smile and show everybody.” Lastly, she asserted the difficult in instilling the hunger to volunteer in others for the right reasons. People should volunteer to genuinely help out others not because they are required to, according to her.
Michael
Michael is a twenty-three year old Caucasian undergraduate student at Georgia Institute of Technology. He began volunteering in high school through his family‟s Masonic connections. He has volunteered at the Shrine Circus several times. Today as a college student, he volunteers with honor societies with their local community service projects. He participates in one or two projects a semester. One of the projects he was involved in showing inner city kids Georgia Tech‟s campus and how to run a chemistry experiment. Another project involved painting buildings, cleaning up walkways, and other activities of that nature. He began volunteering with
30 the local projects as soon as he started college four years ago. At orientation, he did not hear much about volunteering; they did not dedication a session to community outreach or
volunteerism. He heard about volunteering through emails sent by clubs and organizations. The emails allowed him to pick and choose which opportunities he wanted to pursue. Motivation for Michael is a mixture of altruistic and non-altruistic. He is required to volunteer for the
organizations he is a member of. Also he likes giving back to others; it provides him with a feeling of satisfaction to be able to give back to others. He stated the volunteering felt different when it was required. “It does not feel as good when you have to do it verses when you just want to do it.” If one thinks of a common stereotype of college students, one is that if you advertise „Free Food‟ you will attract hungry students. The same idea is applied to volunteers; the benefits Michael has received are similar: free food and t-shirts.
Martha
Martha is a twenty-three year old Caucasian graduate student at Georgia State University. She was an avid volunteer during her undergraduate studies at a private university in North Carolina. At that university, she became involved with the community outreach club called University Community Assistance Network (UCAN). She and her roommate learned about the club by chance during the first week of her freshman year. UCAN had several branches of
outreach: Habit for Humanity, nursing homes, Angelic Riders, and others. During her sophomore year, she and her friends became the leaders of UCAN and decided to head up different
branches. Martha was in charge of Angelic Riders which occurred at Mephibosheth Farms. The program provides therapeutic horseback riding for children with disabilities, physical and mental. She helped children with disabilities ranging from the autistic spectrum to learning disabilities to Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy. The farm is privately owned and funded.
31 In addition to Angelic Riders, she participated in the clean-up of Katrina in Gulf Port,
Mississippi. She also worked on several Habitat for Humanity projects and hunger for homeless events. She spent the remaining three years with UCAN as one of the leaders. She volunteered at least once a week for one or two hours. Her motivation for volunteering is to self-giving; “You are helping people out but in a way you are growing as a person inside.” She had the unique experience of being a volunteer leader and a volunteer.
Andrea
Andrea is a twenty-nine year old Hispanic graduate student at Georgia State University. She volunteers formally at the High Museum and informally at conferences hosted by academic departments. At the High Museum she is a volunteer docent; as a docent she gives tours to the public and attends a monthly educational meeting for docents. The High Museum‟s goals are to bring art to the public and engage more patrons in museum activities. When she volunteers at conferences, she helps out at the registration table. Her motivation for volunteering pertains to doing activities related to her personal interests. The benefits the High gives to its volunteers involves free admission to the museum; however volunteers are required to pay for a
membership to be a docent. Considering the requirement, they receive all the benefits of a member plus some extra such as more advanced knowledge of exhibits and private lectures with curators and special visitors. As docents they receive inside scoops and personal attention for museum staff. Andrea like Marta has the unique experience of being a volunteer coordinator and a volunteer. At a previous job, she managed volunteers, whom gave tours of the campus. The volunteers received points for every tour they gave and received a gift at the end of the year.
32 Anna
Anna is a twenty-three year old Caucasian graduate student at Georgia State University. Unlike other participants in my study, Anna is married; all of the other participants are single. She volunteered during her undergraduate studies at the Blue Grass Rape Crisis Center, which is located in Lexington, Kentucky. She began volunteering at the organization because it matched her interest in women‟s issues. As a women‟s study minor and anthropology major, she was interested in domestic violence. At the Blue Grass Rape Crisis Center, she counseled people on the telephone and face to face. This involved answering phones, driving to the hospital, and counseling training. She heard about it through her advisor when she was talking about volunteer opportunities. She volunteered at the organization for two years with about twenty hours of volunteer service a month. An interesting aspect she discussed was how volunteers should pick an organization because they like the cause. When volunteers randomly choose a place to volunteer, their experience is not as fulfilling as when the cause (and goals) of the organization are close to their heart. The benefits she received from the Crisis Center involved food during training sessions.
Jimmy
Jimmy is a twenty-seven Caucasian graduate student at Georgia State University. Like the other graduate students, he volunteered during his undergraduate studies but not during graduate school. The organization he chose to volunteer at is the Southern Museum in
Kennesaw, Georgia. The Southern Museum specializes in the history of Kennesaw in relation to the civil war and its locomotive background. He volunteered at the Museum once a week for almost a year. He heard about the museum his freshman year through other students whom volunteered and interned at the museum. His reason for volunteering pertained to getting
33 experience with his major. Also he asserted that volunteering appears attractive on C.V.s. When asked what the benefits he received, he stated that there were none; however, by volunteering, his experience enabled him to make a career decision.
Marzin
Marzin is a twenty-three year old Caucasian undergraduate student at Georgia State University. He volunteered through his church‟s youth group on mission trips throughout high school and college for about five years. The mission trips he has participated in involve traveling to Memphis, TN, Savannah, GA and Honduras. During the mission trips, volunteers would build houses or structures for people in need of homes. While working on the projects, he remembers the awkward interactions between volunteers and the people that are being helped. His reasons for volunteering are vastly different from other. He asserts that he volunteered for “selfish reasons or forced to at a young age.” Now that he is older, he hopes to find an organization that he feels comfortable supporting and give his time assisting the organization. However, he has his hands full between work and school; he thinks maybe there is a chance to make time for
volunteering but he has not dedicated any service yet. His father was the leader of the youth church group and highly encouraged Marzin to participate in mission trips. Because of this encouragement, Marzin treated the mission trip as if they were vacations that included some manual labor. He told me about his first experience in Honduras. He describes it as terrible. The group was making a concrete house for this traveling minister. However from his point of view, the volunteers got in the way of the trained workers. In addition, the workers and volunteers could not communicate with each other due to lack of common language. He felt that the trip was useless and would have been more productive if they had donated the money. “So we basically wasted a lot time going through but the way that people on the trip view it as they are
34 really into this when they get together it is just this big masturbation session where is it‟s just like „ohhh look what we are doing. Did you see their faces‟ so what like we are here for a week and then we are going to left and they are still going to poor and we just did something unnecessary.” Zoso
Zoso is a twenty-one year old Middle Eastern undergraduate at Georgia State University. Her sister introduced her to volunteerism while Zoso was in middle school. Zoso‟s sister
volunteered through several Georgia Tech organizations and would bring Zoso along with her on some events. Throughout high school, she volunteered at the Boys and Girls club for three years. As a Georgia State student, Zoso has volunteered with Trees Atlanta and Habitat for Humanity. She is attracted to these organizations because of the opportunities it provides volunteers and the service it provides for others. Although, she supports these organizations she sees issues with them as well. For example, with the Boys and Girls Club, the annual fee of fifty dollars may not be expensive; however, the parents may have issues with transportation and the child may not be able to attend. She admires Habitat for Humanity because it was started by Jimmy Carter and is very accessible; however it is also glorified. Zoso has planted trees, build houses, and other activities through her volunteerism. She volunteers a couple of times a month. She volunteers to be part of something bigger than herself. She enjoys provide an opportunity to people who would not have it without volunteers. When asked if her background influcened her to volunteer, she agreed that her sister‟s volunteerism demonstrated to her how important volunteering is. Zoso also asserted that her major, anthropology, influenced her to volunteer as a way to gain hands on experience.
35 Christy is a twenty-four year old Caucasian graduate student at Georgia State University. She began her volunteering at a speech center where she worked with deaf children and at Grady Hospital in the infectious diseases unit. As a graduate student, she has an impressive variety of community service activities that she does through her neighborhood and her church. From tutoring to pancake breakfasts, she also works with other non-religious affiliated organizations that help the homeless. Her main motivation is her faith. “Also I love my neighborhood. So I do all my volunteering in my neighborhood or close by geographically. I try to locate myself there and to volunteer with programs and services that are in need with what people are doing in my neighborhood. So I think I am motivated by wanting to see change there but I am also motivated by like being mindful to what I think God wants me to do.”
In addition to her faith, she has a strong desire to build relationships with her neighbors. She wants to get to know them better and help them whenever they need it. When she was young, she was involved in Girl Scouts. Although she does not attribute learning about
volunteerism through Girl Scouts, another student from Georgia State University does. One of the featured stories on the Georgia State University website in April 2011 was about student Jasmine Frink, who believes that Girls Scouts instilled in her the desire to help others in
whatever method possible (Seupersad 2011). Christy mainly learned about volunteerism through church. When she lived in Germany, a youth pastor took her to a nursing home to volunteer. After sitting an elderly woman with dementia, she realized there were multiple areas and groups that need help. It is not just the young children and homeless; volunteering can include other age groups and issues. Christy has been volunteering in her community for three years. Unlike the other participants in my study, Christy was uncomfortable with the term “volunteering”. She believes that the term is glorified and feels that some people “volunteer” to make themselves feel
36 better. She advocates for volunteers to be engaged in service for an extended period of time. The longer a person volunteers at a location the stronger the relationship between the people
receiving the service and the volunteer is. When someone is volunteering with no genuine desire to help others, it is a waste of time for the volunteer and the people who train them. It also harms the people receiving the service. She would like to see more people volunteer with genuine desire to assist those in need.
Salley
Salley is a twenty year old African-American undergraduate student at Georgia State University. She volunteered during high school through several clubs. As a college student, she volunteers with Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM), Office of Civil Engagement (through Spotlight), and Office of African American Association (OAAA). She was attracted to these organizations because they provide her with an opportunity to network with a diverse group of people. She had participated in ministering to the homeless and assisting with programs hosted by the organizations such as Love Jones which was hosted by Spotlight. She has volunteered for almost three years. Her motivation to volunteer stems from her desire to give back. When her father died, people helped out her and her family; although she cannot help the people that help her, she wants to help others get through their rough times. Like Christy, Salley‟s faith influences her decision to volunteer. Salley believes she should do as much as she can to help her
neighborhoods and to follow the golden rule. In addition, she wants to help children who are bullied by listening to them and helping them however possible. She was bullied as child and wants to be there to help other bullied children. She believes that by volunteering she will become more like her extroverted self instead of her currently introverted self. Much like Georgia Tech, Georgia State does not dedicate a session or meeting for community service or
37 volunteering. Salley heard about organizations that promote volunteerism through conversation with her Incept tour guide.
Positive and Negative Aspects of Volunteering
The participants in my study spoke of various things when I asked about the positive and negative aspects of volunteering. One theme is how required volunteering may cause people to volunteer when their heart is not in it. In response to my survey question about whether volunteering should be a required part of college courses, the majority agreed (five “agreed”,; one “strongly agreed”, one had “no opinion,” one “disagreed”, and two participants, both male, “strongly disagreed.” Maria enjoys the opportunity volunteering allows for her to work with little kids. However she does not like to see other students volunteer when they are not doing it